Abstract
This chapter reports the results of two exploratory, interview-based studies of the top management teams (TMTs) of entrepreneurial firms in Chinese high-tech industries. Results indicated that the formal team leaders (firm presidents) were typically young and had versatile backgrounds and many of the major characteristics previously identified for effective leaders. Members of the TMTs that had been successful tended to share the leader’s values and goals, hold complementary skills, and have compatible personality traits. Leader quality and team capacity to make decisions independently were decisive for team effectiveness. We present a revised model with additional antecedents that were not in the preliminary model based on the existing literature.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alper, S., Tjosvold, D., & Law, K. S. 2000. Conflict management, efficacy, and performance in organizational teams. Personnel Psychology, 53: 625–642.
Amason, A. C. 1996. Distinguishing the effects of functional and dysfunctional conflict on strategic decision making: Resolving a paradox for top management teams. Academy of Management Journal, 39: 123–148.
Amason, A. C., & Sapienza, H. J. 1997. The effects of top management team size and interaction norms on cognitive and affective conflict. Journal of Management, 23: 495–516.
Anderson, N. R., & West, M. A. 1998. Measuring climate for work group innovation: Development and validation of the team climate inventory. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19: 235–258.
Bantel, K. A. 1993. Top team, environment, and performance effects on strategic planning formality. Group and Organization Management, 18: 436–458.
Barsade, S. G., Ward, A. J., Turner, J. D. F., & Sonnenfeld, J. A. 2000. To your heart’s content: A model of affective diversity in top management teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45: 802–836.
Bishop, J. W., Scott, K. D., & Burroughs, S. M. 2000. Support, commitment, and employee outcomes in a team environment. Journal of Management, 26: 1113–1132.
Boeker, W. 1997. Strategic change: The influence of managerial characteristics and organizational growth. Academy of Management Journal, 40: 152–170.
Bower, M. 1997. The will to lead: Running a business with a network of leaders. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Bowers, C. A., Pharmer, J. A., & Salas, E. 2000. When member homogeneity is needed in work teams — A meta-analysis. Small Group Research, 31: 305–327.
Chen, H. X. 1999. Preliminary research of the type and construction distribution for China hi-tech developing areas. Economic Geography (in Chinese), 1: 74–78
Cohen, S. G. & Bailey, D. E. 1997. What makes teams work: Group effectiveness research from the shop floor to the executive suite. Journal of Management, 23: 239–290.
Cohen, S. G., Chang, L., & Ledford, G. E. 1997. A hierarchical construct of selfmanagement leadership and its relationship to quality of work life and perceived work group effectiveness. Personnel Psychology, 50: 275–308.
Edmondson, A. 1999. Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44: 350–383.
Eisenhardt, K. M. 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14: 532–550.
Finkelstein, S. 1992. Power in top management teams: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 35: 505–538.
Finkelstein, S., & Hambrick, D. C. 1990. Top-management-team tenure and organizational outcomes: The moderating role of managerial discretion. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35: 484–503.
Guan Zi. 1999. Guanzi (in Chinese). Beijing: Jing Hua Publishing House.
Hackman, J. R. 1990. Groups that work (and those that don’t). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Haleblian, J., & Finkelstein, S. 1993. Top management team size, CEO dominance, and firm performance: The moderating roles of environmental turbulence and discretion. Academy of Management Journal, 36: 844–863.
Hambrick, D. C. 1994. Top management groups: A conceptual integration and reconsideration of the “team” label. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior, vol. 16: 171–213. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Hambrick, D. C., Cho, T. S., & Chen, M. J. 1996. The influence of top management team heterogeneity on firms’ competitive moves. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41: 659–684.
Hambrick, D. C., & D’Aveni, R. A. 1992. Top team deterioration as part of the downward spiral of large corporate bankruptcies. Management Science, 38: 1445–1466.
Hambrick, D. C. & Mason, P. A 1984. Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review, 9: 193–206.
Harrison, D. A., Price, K. H., & Bell, M. P. 1998. Beyond relational demography: Time and the effects of surface-and deep-level diversity on work group cohesion. Academy of Management Journal, 41: 96–107.
Hogan, R., Curphy, G. J., & Hogan, J. 1994. What we know about leadership: Effectiveness and personality. American Psychologist, 49: 493–504.
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., Dorfman, P. W., Javidan, M., Dickson, M. W., Gupta, V., et al. 1999. Cultural influences on leadership and organizations: Project GLOBE. In W. H. Mobley, M. J. Gessner, & V. Arnold (Eds.), Advances in global leadership, vol. 1: 171–233. Stamford, CT: JAI Press.
House, R., Delbecq, A. & Taris, T. Value-based leadership: A theory and an empirical test. Working paper, University of Pennsylvania.
Hyatt, D. E., & Ruddy, T. M. 1997. An examination of the relationship between work group characteristics and performance: Once more into the breech. Personnel Psychology, 50: 553–585.
Iaquinto, A. L., & Fredrickson, J. W. 1997. Top management team agreement about the strategic decision process: A test of some of its determinants and consequences. Strategic Management Journal, 18: 63–75.
Jackson, S. E. 1992. Consequences of group composition for the interpersonal dynamics of strategic issue processing. In P. Shrivastava, A. Huff, & J. Dutton (Eds.), Advances in srategic management: 345–382. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Jehn, K. A., Northcraft, G. B., & Neale, M. A. 1999. Why differences make a difference: A field study of diversity, conflict, and performance in workgroups. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44: 741–763.
Keck, S. L. 1997. Top management team structure: Differential effects by environmental context. Organization Science 8(2): 143–156.
Kilduff, M., Angelmar, R, & Mehra, A. 2000. Top management team diversity and firm performance: Examining the role of cognitions. Organization Science, 11(1): 21–34.
Knight, D., Pearce, C. L., Smith, K. G., Olian, J. D., Sims, H. P., Smith, K. A., & Flood, P. 1999. Top management team diversity, group process, and strategic consensus. Strategic Management Journal, 20: 445–465.
Krishnan, H. A., Miller, A., & Judge, W. Q. 1997. Diversification and top management team complementarity: Is performance improved by merging similar or dissimilar teams? Strategic Management Journal, 18: 361–374.
Lawrence, B. S. 1997. The black box of organizational demography. Organization Science, 8: 1–22.
Mathieu, J. E., Heffner, T. S., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. 2000. The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85: 273–283.
Meyer, M. W., Lu, Y., & Lan, H. L. 2001. Institutional vacuums: Changing frameworks for state-owned enterprises in China. Working paper, University of Pennsylvania.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. 1994. An expanded sourcebook: Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Murray, A. 1989. Top management group heterogeneity and firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 10: 125–141.
Neff, T. J., & Citrin J. M. 1999. Lessons from the top. New York: Currency & Doubleday.
Neuman, G. A. & Wright, J. 1999. Team effectiveness: Beyond skills and cognitive ability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84: 376–389.
Papadakis, V. M., Lioukas, S., & Chambers, D. 1998. Strategic decision-making processes: The role of management and context. Strategic Management Journal, 19: 115–147.
Pascale, R. T. 1990. Managing on the edge. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Pelled, L. H., Eisenhardt, K. M., & Xin, K. R. 1999. Exploring the black box: An analysis of work group diversity, confict, and performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44: 1–28.
Pfeffer, J. 1983. Organizational demography. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior, vol.5: 295–357. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Priem, R. L., Lyon, D. W., & Dess, G. G. 1999. Inherent limitations of demographic proxies in top management team heterogeneity research. Journal of Management, 25: 935–953.
Shaw, J. B. & Barrett-Power, E. 1998. The effects of diversity on small work group processes and performance. Human Relations, 51: 1307–1325.
Simons, T. L., & Peterson, R. S. 2000. Task conflict and relationship conflict in top management teams: The pivotal role of intragroup trust. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 102–111.
Simons, T., Pelled, L. H., & Smith, K. A. 1999. Making use of difference: Diversity, debate, and decision comprehensiveness in top management teams. Academy of Management Journal, 42: 662–673.
Smith, K., Smith, K., Olian, L, Sims, H., Jr., O’Bannon, D., & Scully, J. 1994. Top management team demography and process: The role of social integration and communication. Administrative Science Quarterly, 39: 412–438.
Smith, P. B., Dugan, S., & Trompenaars, F. 1996. National culture and the values of organizational employees: A dimensional analysis across 43 nations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 27(2): 231–264.
Stewart, G. L., & Barrick, M. R. 2000. Team structure and performance: Assessing the mediating role of intrateam process and the moderating role of task type. Academy of Management Journal, 43: 135–148.
Taggar, S., Hackett, R., & Saha, S. 1999. Leadership emergence in autonomous work teams: Antecedents and outcomes. Personnel Psychology, 52: 899–926.
Tesluk, P. E., & Mathieu, J. E. 1999. Overcoming roadblocks to effectiveness: Incorporating management of performance barriers into models of work group effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84: 200–217.
Tjosvold, D. 1992. The conflict-positive organization: Stimulate diversity and create unity. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Tsui, A., & Gutek, B. 1999. Demographic differences in organizations: Current research and future directions. New York: Lexington Books.
Waldman, D., Ramirez, G., House, R., & Puranam, P. 2001. Does leadership matter? CEO leadership attributes and profitability under conditions of perceived environmental uncertainty. Academy of Management Journal, 44: 134–143.
Webber, S. S., & Donahue, L. M. 2001. Impact of highly and less job-related diversity on work group cohesion and performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 27: 141–162.
Wegge, J. 2000. Participation in group goal setting: Some novel findings and a comprehensive model as a new ending to an old story. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 49: 498–516.
West, C. T., & Schwenk, C. R. 1996 Top management team strategic consensus, demographic homogeneity and firm performance: A report of resounding nonfindings. Strategic Management Journal, 17: 571–576.
West, M. A. and N. R. Anderson. 1996. Innovation in top management teams. Journal of Applied Psychology. 81: 680–693.
West, M. A., Borrill, C. S., & Unsworth, K. L. 1998. Team effectiveness in organizations. In C. L. Cooper & I. T. Robertson (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology, vol. 13: 1–48. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Winter, D. G. 1992. Scoring system for responsibility. In C.P. Smith (Ed.), Motivation and personality: Handbook of thematic content analysis: 506–511. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Yan, A., & Gray, B. 1994. Bargaining power, management control, and performance in the United States-China joint ventures: A comparative case study. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 1478–1517.
Yin, R. K. 1989. Case study research: Design and methods (rev. ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Yuki, G. 1998. Leadership in organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fu, P.P. et al. (2002). Characteristics and Processes of Top Management Teams in High-Tech Firms. In: Tsui, A.S., Lau, CM. (eds) The Management of Enterprises in the People’s Republic of China. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1095-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1095-6_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5392-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1095-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive